Emergency Plumbers Save the Day on Christmas

Updated: 12/26/2013 7:27 AM KSTP.com
By: Katherine Johnson

Some families throughout the metro are not looking for Santa's sleigh, they're keeping an eye out for the plumbing truck. It can make all the difference between a Christmas mess and a Christmas miracle.

"I've kind of seen it all," Alan Dietz with Ben Franklin Plumbing said. "I've seen people throw pots of boiled potatoes down the toilet."

Dietz has a story for every Christmas. He's been on call over the last 12 years.

"Like the last guy, he said it's the worst day of the year for anything and everything to happen, and it's just bad luck," Dietz said. "I've seen cell phones down toilets, kids' toys, steak knives, forks, spoons. I'm pretty used to it. My wife is -- getting used to it," he said, referring to his absence on Christmas.

It's traditionally the busiest day for plumbing emergencies out of the entire year. At Ben Franklin plumbing, call volumes triple on Christmas and Thanksgiving.

"You have more people in the home than normal so you're flushing the toilets, running a lot more laundry, just kind of overloading the system, if you will," he said.

But believe it or not, he doesn't mind.

"The biggest thing, I guess, I've always liked is being able to help people," said Dietz.

And it's on to the next emergency.

At Ben Franklin plumbing, there are three plumbers on call Christmas Day, juggling about 15 calls and counting.

We called a few other plumbing and heating services to check their call volume.

Dean's Professional Plumbing is dealing with mostly heating problems and averages about 12 calls every Christmas.

Roto Rooter says the day after Christmas is actually their busiest day of the year because of the aftermath of an evening Christmas party.